House OKs Deficit-Reduction Package - May 1993

The U.S. House of Representatives gave a boost to Pres. Bill Clinton's deficit-reduction program in May, passing the so-called budget reconciliation bill. The legislation, which projected a total reduction in the federal government's anticipated budget deficits of about $500B by 1998, was debated instensely throughout the month. Many Democrats insisted on strict controls on spending entitlement programs and a mechanism was incorporated into the bill requiring Congress and the president to act if entitlement spending significantly exceeds targets set in annual budget resolutions. The text of the bill did not specify some of the spending cuts that would be made in order for the deficit-reduction goals to be met. A key feature of the bill was an energy tax, which would be levied on all fuels based on their energy content in British thermal units (Btu's). A group of senators of both parties, led by David Boren (D, Okla.), signaled that the bill would face difficulty in the Senate when they insisted, May 20, on deeper spending cuts and fewer tax increases. Boren also opposed the Btu tax. With vigorous lobbying by Clinton and his aides, the bill barely got approval in the House, May 27, by a vote of 219 to 213; 38 Democrats and all voting Republicans opposed it. Ross Perot, an independent candidate for president in 1992, also opposed what he called Clinton's "tax and spend" program, and on May 30, he also ran a 30-minute commercial on television denouncing the North America Free Trade Agreement, which Clinton supported. Perot said if NAFTA was approved, millions of U.S. jobs would be lost to Mexico.